Stories from the Saddle and the Hills

Stories

Belgrade was a nice break in our bicycle touring holiday through Serbia. It’s now time to turn that page.

Our plan for the day is heading North and bike through the fields Vojvodina. For how long? It doesn’t matter. For how long we can.

Getting out of Belgrade reminded us why we love big cities. Thousands of cars around, intoxicating fumes and deafening sirens are things that drive you crazy once you discover the natural world. After packing our bikes in the street, in front of the hostel, we took a last tour of the Kalemegdan, then headed for the Pančevo bridge.

Oh, that bridge! Adelina said it was the most difficult biking she’s ever done. Just crossing across it, on our way to Belgrade, two days ago, was a terryfing ordeal. Racing trucks passing by and shaking the bridge from under your feet even made my skin go bumpy. Having learned our lesson, we’re going to cross it on the sidewalk this time. Slow and steady, pushing our bikes across will be much safer.

On the other side, we quickly leave the main road and bike near the Danube, on the levee. The area is full of vegetation and birds and we’re very happy to find ourselves in nature once again. The air is much richer and cleaner here. No more noxious gases from those old Yugos here. We get of the levee close to the city of Pančevo, which we pass through without stopping.

After Pančevo we enter the vast fields of Vojvodina province, the region we are going through on our way to Timișoara. Vojvodina is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural place, and even the regional administration uses no less than six official languages. We take a lunch break in Kovačica, a town inhabited mostly by Slovaks, but also by Serbs, Hungarians and Romanians. We stop right in the town centre, near the Evangelical church, in the park. It’s a lovely, quiet place.

Further North, time catches up to us and the sunset is fast approaching. We need to find a place to camp for the night, but everywhere we look are fields. There are even people around, out harversting their crops, and we wouldn’t want to attract any attention.

Stealth camping is what most bicycle tourists choose for sleeping at night. We prefer secluded places, where we can feel safe from any curious eyes. Not even this gives you a good night’s sleep, a great thing after a long day of biking, but it’s also much safer.

For the night, we found a place in a forested area near an irrigation canal. It wasn’t very far from the village, as we could hear dogs barking, but it was far enough for us to go unnoticed and undisturbed. It was a great place!

The route we followed is here. Checking out some roads on the map, I think that, if all goes well, tomorrow we are going to cross the border back to Romania. We are heading home.

Don’t forget to watch our video for the ninth day of our bicycle touring holiday:

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